Mild Cognitive Impairment Clinical Trials

This study will conduct a group randomized trial to test the effects of a hula-based intervention in improving vascular risk factors for ADRD and cognitive complaints and function over 12 months. Read Less

In this multi-center study, the investigators plan to develop a simple blood-based test for early detection of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The test is based on a single injection of Pramlintide, an amylin analogue and FDA-approved drug currently used for treatment of diabetes. The investigative team has provided evidence in humans with full-blown AD and AD-relevant mouse models that a single injection of Pramlintide transiently renders the blood brain barrier (BBB) more permeable to Amyloidbeta (Aß) peptides, allowing their efflux from the brain compartment into the blood. This Aß efflux causes a corresponding transient elevation of blood levels of Aß, the magnitude of which the applicants believe is proportional to the brain amyloid load as determined by AV-45 PET. The measured difference in the level of plasma Aß taken just before and a short time after injection should reveal the magnitude of the transient increase in blood Aß levels. Supportive preliminary data comes from later stage (full-blown) AD patients with more in-depth background studies in Tg2576 and 5X Familial Alzheimer's Disease (FAD) mouse models. If successful for use as an early AD (i.e., at the Mild Cognitive Impairment \[MCI\] stage) biomarker, this could be a game-changer for both early AD diagnostics and clinical trials aimed at identifying and testing the efficacy of drugs useful for treatment of AD at early stages. If Pramlintide is effective in releasing mobile pools of Aß from the brain into the blood, this could also have some therapeutic potential, with the goal of reducing brain amyloid load. Three groups of particpants will be studied: 1) amnestic MCI with or without positive AD imaging pathology, 2) probable AD with positive imaging AD pathology, and 3) controls who have normal cognition and do not have memory complaints. Read Less

This study compares different music therapy (MT) experiences and their impact on memory and language in patients with Alzheimer's disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment. The 12-month study will assess the role of common experiences involving familiar music and other pleasant events (blinded control) to benefit cognition and measure the quality of life for people with Alzheimer's disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment. Following screening, all participants will meet with a licensed music therapist at the first study visit. Thereafter, each group will have an individualized schedule of follow-up telephone calls and visits. Screening for the study and participation in the study intervention can be completed in-person or from your home, if you do not live in the area. Read Less

CORT-X will examine if mitigation of stress-mediated pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a feasible target for intervention in individuals at risk for this disease. This single-site (Baltimore, Maryland) phase II clinical trial is a 2-week, randomized, placebo-controlled crossover study of the effects of the selective glucocorticoid receptor antagonist, CORT108297, on cognitive test performance in 26 individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) due to AD and in 26 cognitively normal individuals with an increased risk for AD due to family history, genetics, and/or subjective memory complaints. All subjects will participate in a brief stressor (public speaking and mental arithmetic) and provide saliva samples so investigators can measure stress hormone response. Then, following 2 weeks of treatment with placebo or CORT108297, in counterbalanced order, participants will complete cognitive tests assessing memory and executive function. All study participants will receive CORT108297 and placebo over the course of this 10-week trial that requires 6 in-person study visits. The primary aims will compare the effects of CORT108297 to placebo on cognitive test performance in individuals with MCI due to AD and in individuals at risk for AD, and describe the side effects of CORT108297 in study participants. Secondary aims will identify subject characteristics that predict positive response to study drug. Read Less

Individuals with mild cognitive impairment are often physically inactive and at risk for progressing to dementia. Physical inactivity is considered a modifiable risk factor for dementia. Therefore, interventions must be developed to foster sustainable improvement in daily physical activity. To address this problem, our pilot study aims are directed at assessing the feasibility and preliminary improvement of physical activity following the use of a mobile-health technology physical activity behavior change intervention. Similar interventions have shown to be very effective in older adults without cognitive impairment. We specifically focus on the subtype of amnestic mild cognitive impairment since this subtype often progresses to Alzheimer's Disease, a leading cause of death in the US. Improving physical activity is one approach to reduce the progression to Alzheimer's Disease and subsequently lower mortality. To increase the impact of the intervention, participants with amnestic mild cognitive impairment will be recruited along with a primary caregiver (dyads). Thirty dyads will be recruited and randomized to either an intervention group (15 dyads) or usual care group (15 dyads). The intervention group will receive a 12-week mobile-health technology physical activity behavior change intervention structured to improve physical activity. The intervention is unique in the combination of established behavior change theories and techniques and remote delivery for individuals with amnestic mild cognitive impairment. This pilot study is designed to assess the feasibility of the intervention by examining participant and primary caregiver retention, intervention session attendance, intervention acceptability and safety, and qualitative perspectives. Secondly, this pilot study will assess preliminary improvement in physical activity (i.e., daily steps). Improvement will be determined based on significant changes in participants' daily steps observed via accelerometry post-intervention in the intervention group compared to the usual care control group. The results of this study will support future work (K-award and R01 submissions) to explore efficacy and larger-scale implementation to reach rural and underserved areas of Nebraska and beyond. Read Less

This study will evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of Neuro-World cognitive training games (Woorisoft, S. Korea) in patients with mild cognitive impairment. Read Less

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of atorvastatin on brain vessel reactivity and with it on blood flow in people with mild cognitive impairment. Read Less

The primary objective of the Vanderbilt Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (VADRC) is to provide local and national researchers with access to a well-characterized and diverse clinical cohort, including participant referrals, biosamples, clinical data, and neuroimaging data. The VADRC Clinical Core will create an infrastructure to support research efforts of both local and national investigator studies to develop early detection, prevention, and treatment strategies for Alzheimer's disease. The Clinical Core intends to enroll up to 1000 participants, including individuals who are cognitively unimpaired, have mild cognitive impairment, or have Alzheimer's disease. This cohort of about 1000 participants will be called the Tennessee Alzheimer's Project. Participants will be seen annually for comprehensive clinical characterization and then referred to other studies to enhance Alzheimer's disease research activities. Read Less

The Interventions for Brain Health Virtual Reality Study is a NIH-funded clinical research trial at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) Health under the supervision of the study principal investigator Dr. Judy Pa. The overarching goal of this trial is to use a novel virtual reality (VR) based intervention that simultaneously engages physical and cognitive activity aimed at improving brain health and cognition in older adults. The investigators will compare 3 types of interventions: physical activity, VR cognitive activity, and combined VR physical and cognitive activity over 16 weeks to evaluate physical and brain health changes. Read Less

Alzheimer's disease and related dementias lead to marked declines in daily functioning, independence, and quality of life. One of the earliest cognitive changes in these conditions is impairment in prospective memory, or the ability to remember future intentions such as taking medications at a given time. Prior intervention studies that targeted prospective memory used mnemonic strategies or cognitive training, but these approaches resulted in modest gains in clinical populations. By contrast, a Stage I pilot trial indicated that smartphone-based memory aids (reminder apps) can be accepted and used by persons with mild cognitive impairment and mild dementia to improve both subjective and objective prospective memory performance. The investigators will now test for efficacy, durability, and generalizability of benefits across diverse samples in a Stage II randomized controlled trial. Some 200 participants with mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia will be recruited, half of whom will be from digitally-disadvantaged backgrounds (low socioeconomic status, rural, or historically underrepresented groups). Participants will complete baseline assessments and then be randomly assigned to a smartphone reminder app intervention or an active control condition that uses a paper- based memory support system. Across a 4-week intervention period, participants will complete patient-selected and experimenter-assigned prospective memory assessments and receive booster training sessions to promote self-efficacy with the intervention/control system. Durability of effects will be assessed at 3-month and 6-month follow-up sessions. As a secondary aim, study partners will be simultaneously enrolled to collect informant ratings, track how much study partners assist the participants, and determine whether improving prospective memory in patients improves quality of life in study partners (e.g., by reducing the double to-do list burden of remembering for themselves and for care recipients). As a third aim, the investigators will identify barriers and facilitators to smartphone interventions in digitally-disadvantaged individuals who have historically been underrepresented in technology and dementia research. Read Less

Efficient and user-friendly paradigms to detect cognitive impairment, including dementia are needed in primary care. The TabCAT Brain Health Assessment accurately detects cognitive impairment via an appealing tablet interface with automated scoring and EMR integration. This study will evaluate the effectiveness of the paradigm on detection rates and other brain health outcomes via a pragmatic cluster randomized trial in 26 Kaiser Southern California primary care clinics. Read Less

The proposed research will use closed-loop transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) based on individualized brain networks to establish parameters that can reliably control brain states. This will be tested in healthy aging and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) cohorts. The investigators will study network activation and neural oscillatory mechanisms underlying the network that regulates working memory and then target this network using closed-loop TMS to the Prefrontal Cortex. Investigators will measure the impact of TMS on working memory performance and task-based neural activity. The project will use brain stimulation and network modeling techniques to enhance working memory in healthy older adults and MCI and will demonstrate the value of closed-loop, network-guided TMS for future clinical applications. Read Less